When you see the acronym “TWLOHA,” it looks more like an awful jumble of letters more than something incredibly meaningful. But if you take a closer look, TWLOHA (pronounced “twa-lo-ha”), represents To Write Love On Her Arms, a national non-profit dedicated to providing help and hope to people struggling with mental illness. To Write Love is a lot more than just a campaign to get people to write “love” on their arms on Suicide Prevention Day – which is September 10th, by the way. In fact, we have a chapter of TWLOHA right here at FSU. One of the chapter’s Co-Presidents, Katy Pentz, told me, “the UChapter at FSU exists to provide authentic community for FSU students,” and meets every Tuesday night at 8 p.m. in the Askew Student Life Center, room 101b.
I sat in on their most recent meeting to check it out. I walked into 101b and, after saying hello and fumbling over the pronunciation of the acronym a few times, I instantly noticed how relaxed everyone was. It seemed like all the club members were great friends, and spent their pre-meeting time chatting and laughing. Once the meeting got started, the club officers read off a quick list of announcements and then started an ice-breaker activity. We were all asked to state our names and tell something good that has happened in the last 24 hours. The emphasis on positivity turned out to be a constant theme throughout the meeting.
Since September is Self-Improvement Month, we next watched a Ted Talk by Brene Brown about self-awareness, and each person was given a bright piece of construction paper (I picked yellow) and a marker to write down buzz words. I wrote down words like courage, vulnerability, and imperfect, among others.
The general thesis of the video was this: vulnerability, as scary as it is, is not a sign of weakness. It is, rather, what allows us to make authentic connections with our emotions and the people around us. That, in turn, allows us to be our own beautiful, imperfect, authentic selves.
We followed the video with dialogue about how we felt about the video. How did we think we were being vulnerable in our everyday lives? Is there anything you can do to become a more authentic person? What do authenticity and being self-aware mean to you? These tough questions, and many more, were answered by the whole group. Many people shared their personal stories of vulnerability, and even showed great vulnerability by sharing those stories in that meeting. Without it even being said, I trusted this group and knew that I was in a safe space to share. So I did, at least a little bit.
One of the announcements mentioned at the beginning of the meeting was that TWLOHA would be tabling on Landis Green the following day, so I decided to stop by and check it out. (It worked out well that the Her Campus FSU team was tabling right next to them, but that’s beside the point.) The event was dubbed a “Mental Health Field Day,” and it even featured a ball pit! If you took the time to stop and speak with a TWLOHA representative, you heard about the club’s mission and opportunities to get more involved. If you took a step further and got in the ball pit, you and a buddy had the chance to start a conversation and connect on a deeper level than you would on a regular basis.
Although To Write Love On Her Arms is not a giant counseling session (a disclaimer was even issued at the beginning of the meeting: the TWLOHA officers are not trained counselors), I felt a huge sense of relief after spending time with this group. I wasn’t even looking for help, but I found solace in what I learned from the video and the discussion following it. One thing that really stuck with me was this: the Latin root of the word “courage” is “cor,” meaning, “to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart.” Having courage almost literally means being your most authentic self. That was absolutely inspiring to me, and seemed to inspire everyone else in the room as well.
As college students, we have a lot of stuff going on, and a lot of pressure is put on us from a lot of different places. Ever heard the saying, “pick two: good grades, good social life, or good sleep?” Sometimes, I can only pick one. Being with TWLOHA gave me the space to be with other students who were struggling and cared about themselves enough to come and talk about it. It helps to know that you’re not the only one experiencing these struggles, and that there are people in your corner who want to help you through it. You don’t have to have a mental illness to be a part of To Write Love On Her Arms. You don’t even have to be struggling with anything. You just have to care about yourself, about others, and want to make any positive impact you can on the world around you.
I’ll end with the challenge issued to me at the end of the TWLOHA meeting: do something today to make yourself better. It doesn’t matter what it is. It could be taking a nap, going to yoga class, calling your mom, studying an extra hour, or even walking a different way to class. Just take one moment out of your day to care about yourself. I promise it will make a difference.